The European Parliament called for financing of Ukrainian transport infrastructure restoration

The European Parliament called on the EU to strengthen transport links with Ukraine and impose additional sanctions against Russia.

This is stated in the resolution on “the impact of Russia’s illegal aggressive war against Ukraine on the transport and tourism sectors”, approved on May 5 at a plenary meeting in Strasbourg, reports Railway Supply magazine.

It is noted that the document was voted for by a show of hands, so it is not known exactly how many MEPs supported it. But usually electronic voting is not carried out when there is no doubt about its result.

The resolution “strongly condemns the deliberate attacks by Russian forces on Ukraine’s transport infrastructure, which hinder the ability of the Ukrainian authorities to evacuate civilians and transport essential goods and supplies to those in need.” The European Parliament called on the EU to provide Ukraine with financial assistance to restore its transport infrastructure.

The MEPs also called on the European Commission “to support Ukraine and its efforts to increase rail links between Ukraine and the EU.” In particular, we are talking about the creation of new ways of communication. Here the MEPs welcomed the restoration of railway and water transport routes between Romania and Ukraine.

The European Parliament supported the proposal of the European Commission to conclude agreements with Ukraine and Moldova on the partial liberalization of road freight transport and called to sign and begin its temporary application immediately. And at the suggestion of the Polish MEPs, the resolution called on the European Commission to initiate negotiations with Kyiv on the liberalization of rail and river freight transport.

In addition, the resolution asks the EU and its states to strengthen the “dual-use infrastructure” leading to the eastern border of the European Union. After all, military support is delivered to Ukraine by land through the EU countries.

MEPs welcomed the already imposed sanctions against Russia, but urged the EU to “continue to assess and adopt further effective sanctions in the transport sector in order to close the financing of Putin’s war machine.”

In April, the EU banned Russian-flagged ships from entering its ports. The resolution also calls for extending this restriction to all ships that called at the ports of the Russian Federation on their way to or from European harbors. They also propose to ban refueling of Russian ships that want to enter EU harbors.

The railway remains the only transport sector that has not been affected by European sanctions against the Russian Federation. The European Parliament regrets that there has not yet been an outright ban on transport operations involving the Russian railway company RZD, although EU financial restrictions apply to it.

Recall that the European Union and the United States have closed their ports for ships from the Russian Federation. Subsequently, a corresponding decision was made in Norway. EU sanctions also apply to road carriers from the Russian Federation and Belarus.

In addition, Germany plans to launch a railway “grain bridge” from Ukraine.

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